Author: kerrizane

06 July 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

Last I wrote, we\’d anchored at Yabooma Island and I\’d gone over the whole big tide math to make sure that at \”O Dark Thirty\” we didn\’t visit the muddy bottom of the Yabooma Esturary. WELL…. I got nervous after my own lecture and figured it would be too close for comfort (aka: a good nights sleep).

So, before it got dark, we picked up the anchor with our new engine impeller working great and re-anchored in deeper water at the bottom of Boojaragi Island in the estuary. The depth was good and I had to make sure we were not too close to the reef system which at low tide stuck out of the water like razor blades. A bit windy and the current was 2.5 knots during the flood, but we got a good nights sleep and moved on early the next morning.

We\’d heard that barges plied these estuary\’s as it\’s easier to supply the Aboriginal Communities by boat/ship than by truck as half the year the roads are closed anyway. As we were leaving the estuary, we passed \”M/V Victora Tujhua\” who was making his twice weekly visit to the Mlingimbi community that was several miles further up river than we went. As it was, it took us over an hour just to get out of the estuary and back on the track toward our next anchorage. Adding to the fun was the fact that many of the areas here say, \”Unsurveyd\”. This means, there is NO CHART and sailor beware. It was easy enough to skirt these areas, so no big deal, but it lets you know how far afield we truly are. Adding to the eeriness of it all is the pea soup green water that runs out of the various river estuaries along the \”NT\” coast.

The problem with this coast is that it is featureless. The land is no more than 20 feet high and it\’s that way for hundreds of miles along the coast and quite far inland. There is also no real \”welcome mat\” for the boats to visit the Aboriginal Communities (indeed it requires a permit which is a big deal to get) and, there are no facilities and nothing we can really do off boat except explore by dinghy. No swimming because of the crocodiles and the water is muddy anyway. Hence, not a lot of boats come along the \”shore route\”. There is no quality guide book materials, you are truly on your own.

The wind has been very strong offshore and because of this, the twenty of so boats behind us en-route to Darwin for the rally are stuck (99% of them are doing the offshore route to Darwin). As such, we figured we might be the only boat actually making progress toward Darwin as the winds were thirty knots offshore. They were down to a pedestrian 18-25 for us, but directly astern and small seas as we were close to land.

We still needed to find one more anchorage to avoid a night sail and we thought about several of the poor options. We opted for Rolling Bay. Yep, that\’s the name and boy did it roll! Very safe, no white caps even in 25 knots of wind, but the swell wrapped around the corner and around 11 pm we were rocked and rolled for about 2 hours. The wind dropped down and reasonable sleep was had. The next morning, the wind was up yet again. The phenomenon is that the huge high pressure systems that come up the East Coast of OZ from the Southern Ocean get accelerated due to the cooling of the continental land mass at night. This cold air \”falls\” into the Arafura Sea like a rock displacing the tropically warmed air over the water here near the equator. As the land heats during the day, the wind drops significantly as the temperature gradient disappears.

We had yet another great sail en-route to our next stop, a really comfortable anchorage, North Goulbourn Island. As the crow flies, we\’re 160 miles from Darwin and have covered over 2000 miles since we left Brisbane 7 weeks ago. We\’ve 200 sailing miles to go as we must go around the Coburg Peninsula just to the East of Darwin. The anchorages from here to there should finally all be nice ones. As we approached South Goulbourn Island, we noticed that a quarter of the island seemed to be on fire! Indeed, it was. We read that the Aboriginal communities burn the dry spinifex grass to hunt amongst other things and apparently it is good for the diversity of the plant life. They hunt a certain lizard for food, but again, we read this on the internet and are not positive. We noticed several land areas along the northern coast with fires burning including the Mlingimbi Community area at Yabooma Island Esturary. We shall investigate further…..

I hadn\’t mentioned this before, but our generator main circuit breaker went out on us several days ago. The good news was that the shore power breaker is identical to it and I just swapped them out. At first it didn\’t work. Nikki said (she\’s a certified electrician btw!) that the relay coil wasn\’t activating. I took it apart, re-assymbled and we\’re now back in the generator business.

Tomorrow, we\’ll be off to Malay Bay on the Cobourg Peninsula which has some sorted history of it\’s own…. More later, stay tuned!

KIT, Scott and Nikki

Happy Birthday Robert Sheinbein. Robert for those of you who don\’t know him, was my oldest childhood friend!

01 July 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

We felt in no rush to leave Gove today as we decided to just go to Elizabeth Bay and stay the night, planning to arrive at Hole in the Wall at the morning slack low tide. We got the expected wind however and decided to press on to catch the late afternoon slack at 5:30 p.m. This is not a preferred time for me NOT to be anchored in dubiously charted and unknown areas to Skipper Scott. However, everyone advised us that the anchorage at Raragala (where I am writing from) was a very easy entry which it was. Also, the winds which are 20-25 knots now are predicted to be up to 25-30 tomorrow. Better to get through \”The Hole\” before the wind really kicks up. One nice thing is that the islands we are in, the Wessel Group, knocks out the sea, so no big waves and not too uncomfortable at all.

The Gugari Rip: (AKA: The Hole In the Wall) The Rip is known locally as \”The Hole In the Wall\” and truly has an side cut (the actual HOLE) in the side of the wall where it looked extremely calm. The rip is between two islands, Raragala and Guluwuru (Aboriginal names). These are both required to have a permit to go ashore as they are Aboriginal lands. We can see no one anywhere along the coast, fyi. I doubt that more than a handful of people live on either island (if any!) and they are each about 7 miles long.

The flood tide goes from west to east and we were sailing east to west with 22-25 knots of wind right behind us as we entered the mile and half long by 150 foot wide channel. At about 3 miles from the entrance, the ripping current going against the wind was causing very steep waves and I was a bit trepidous of what might lie ahead. Once commited to this trip, there is no \”plan B\”. You\’d have to go 7 miles with a beam sea on a lee shore to get around the islands. NO FUN as the seas against the windward side of the islands looked like the North Sea to Nikki.

As we timed it to arrive JUST BEFORE the high slack tide, only the entrance was a bit boisterous, the rest of it not bad at all. We briefly saw a 4 knot head current, but it average about 2-3 knots against us. Our timing was pretty good. Apparently, the current has been clocked at 9 knots in a full flood on spring tides. Our tide was only 6 feet (2 meters), so \”not so bad\”. The entire trip through the rip took 15 minutes. It\’s kind of like a Disneyland ride.

We got spit out of the west end and came into the windy but calm anchorage here at Raragala. Anchored next to \”Obsession II\” who went all the way around the island.

We think we\’ll \”day hop\” from here to Darwin as I feel comfortable about the lightly surveyed, but adequate charts. Most cruising areas have pretty thorough \”guides\”, this area does not. \”Mr. John VI\” gave us a copy of some information that makes it look like a nice adventure. This should be interesting as truly, this is perhaps the most remote area in all of Australia.

More tomorrow, KIT, Scott and Nikki

30 June 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

Today we were able to get a \”hire car\” as they are called here. A beat up Toyota Hilux. These types of vehicles are referred to in \”OZ\” as \”Utes\”. That\’s for Utility Vehicle. Ours wasn\’t a \”Mine Spec UTE\” according to Nikki (actually is was a beater!), but it sufficed for our needs for the day. Cars here aren\’t cheap. 100.00 cash (and oh btw), we weren\’t even required to fill out a single piece of paper work. I didn\’t even show anyone my license.

So off we went. First stop, the town. Population around 3,000. I think it\’s the second most populated city in the entire northern tier of Australia. Darwin has some 30,000 people. Here, for the first time, we were in the distinct minority amidst the local aboriginal communities to whom of course this is \”home\”. We went to the local petrol station, got a map and found directions to the local Aboriginal Art Center. Nikki bought a few nice carvings and I got a good deal on a genuine, Arnhemland \”Yadaki\”. Up here, a Didgeridoo is known as a Yadaki. I\’ve been taken with these and only buy \”concert quality\” instruments. This one was 225.00 plus 80 shipping to the US! Nice! I now have 7! Yes, I\’m learning to play.

We learned a fair amount about the local Yaraki Village and that the Aboriginal peoples are actually very different around Australia. These people are not nomadic, and call themselves the people of the saltwater. The ocean is as important to them as the land. Some of the artwork was gorgeous, but amazingly at art gallery prices in the big city. We also learned a great deal about how the land as late as the 1970\’s was simply taken for use by European descended Aussies without the slightest bit of consultation from the locals. This has turned around 180 degrees and now the government goes the way extra mile to make sure that Aboriginal lands are protected and property rights respected.

Afterward, we tried to find out about a tour of the Bauxite mine which is owned by Alcan (Rio Tinto), but they no longer do the tours.

We also went to a very nice beach with the crocodile warning signs and a beautiful lookout from a ceremonial area that is allowed to be visited. We later learned, that we were supposed to have a permit to wander about, but no one seemed to care and we left without a trace.

At night, we went to listen to the band at the Gove Yacht Club (pretty good, but they need a vocalist) and had dinner there. Tomorrow, we\’ll be off for either Elizabeth Bay or directly to Raragla Island going through the famous \”Hole In The Wall\” at Gugari Rip! It\’s a ripper mate! From here to Darwin is perhaps the most remote area in all of Australia.

KIT, more soon, Scott and Nikki